Hinge for swinging doors



Nov. 13, 1962 N. GREENMAN HINGE FOR SWINGING DOORS Filed Nov. 1, 1960INVENTOR. IVA THAN GREEN/WAN fiaun EM AGENT United States Patent3,063,039 HINGE FOR SWVHNGING DOORS Nathan Greenman, Bronx, N.Y.

(87-93 Lorimer St., Brooklyn 6, N .Y.) Filed Nov. 1, 1960, Ser. No.66,558 9 Claims. (Cl. 16-186) This invention relates to hinges, and moreparticularly to a hinge for swinging doors which tends to return thedoor to a predetermined rest position when the door is angularlydisplaced from that position. The type of door for which this inventionis eminently suitable is employed in public places where it is desiredto obstruct the door passage into or out of a room at all times exceptduring actual passage of a person through the door opening withoutdepending on the diligence of the person for closing the door. Suchdoors are commonly employed in factories between a work space and anadjoining room to minimize air drafts, in restaurants between thekitchen and eating rooms to prevent kitchen odors and kitchen noise fromentering the eating room, injclothing establishments to hide theinterior of dressing rooms from outside view, and in public toilets.

Known types of such doors rely generally on the power of a return springor on a cam arrangement and the weight of the door for returning thedoor to the desired rest position which in the applications enumeratedabove for the purpose of illustration is usually the closed position.

Doors which rely on gravity for supplying the motive power for the doornecessarily involve movement of the door along the hinge axis duringpivoting movement of the door about the axis. They cannot be employedwhere a fairly tight seal between the door and door frame is necessaryas in the factory doors and kitchen doors mentioned above, but suchaxial door movement is also frequently undesirable in other applicationsbecause of the limitations it imposes on the manner of installation ofthe door in the door frame.

Spring actuated doors of several types have been commonly employed. Allknown types of such doors use hinge elements which have relatively greatbulk so that they usually cannot be installed in the door itself, orwhen flat enough to fit into the thickness of the door extend relativelyfar in the main plane of the door.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a spring actuateddoor hinge of the type described which includes a hinge element of smallbulk which can be readily accommodated even in thin doors withoutextending unduly in the main plane of the door.

Another object is the provision of a hinge the working elements of whichare protected against accidental damage during installation of the hingeon the door.

An additional object is the provision of a hinge for swinging doors theworking elements-of which are protected against contamination by theenvironment both before and after installation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention mainly resides in ahinge assembly Which includes an elongated tubular housing enclosing asubstantially closed cavity. A cam member is arranged in the cavity andis movable therein in the direction of the longitudinal axis of thehousing. Its rotation aboutthis axis is prevented. The cam member has acam face which forms a helix about the housing axis and extends radiallywith respect to the axis.

A plug member is rotatable about this axis in the housing cavity and hasa helical cam face which is capable of mating engagement with the camface of the abovementioned cam member. The two cam faces are urged intoengagement by resilient means installed in the cavity.

2 The housing and the plug member are fastened by suitable means to thedoor and the door frame respectively.

In its more specific aspects the invention contemplates giving acylindrical shape of substantially equal diameter to the plug member,the cam member and the internal wall of the housing so that the plugmember and the cam member form movable seal-s with correspondingportions of the wall. These seals may permit limited passage of airalthough this is not essential to the operativeness of the device, butthey exclude contaminants of a solid or liquid nature, and retardpassage of vapors.

To permit axial movement without rotation of the cam member, the housingis preferably formed with axially extending slots which guideprojections on the cam member. The axial path of the latter is limitedby the ends of the slots, and the axial length of the slots and the cammember is preferably selected in such a manner that the cam member inall operative positions thereof will prevent entry of contaminantsthrough the slots into the housing cavity.

Other features and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill become apparent to those skilled in the art as the disclosure ismade in the following detailed description of the annexed drawings,which illustrate a preferred embodiment ofv the invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational View of a door equipped with the hingeassembly of the invention; FIG. 2 shows a detail of the door of FIG. 1with portions of the structure broken away to reveal the workingelements of the hinge assembly;

. FIG. 3 is a side-elevational fragmentary. view of the hinge assemblyof FIG. 2, the view being taken in the direction of the arrows 3-3;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2 taken inthe direction of the arrows 44; and

FIG. 5 shows the apparatus of FIG. 2 in a fragmentary sectional view ina different operating position, the section being taken'on the hingeaxis.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and initially to FIG. 1, thereis seen a door 10 which substantially fills the opening of a door frame-11. One of the narrow upright sides of the door 10 has two recesses 12and L13. A hinge bracket 14 engages the upper recess 12 in which it ispivotally secured to the door .10. The bracket 14 is fixedly mounted onthe door frame 11 and thus holds the door in a fixed axial position. Theupper door bracket 14 is entirely conventional and does not require moredetailed description. The lower recess 13 accommodates a hinge assembly'15 with which this invention is more particularly concerned.

The hinge assembly is seen in FIGS. 2 to 5 in several operatingpositions. FIGS. 2 to 4 inclusive show the hingle in the rest positionwhich in the example illus-' trated coincides with the position of thedoor seen in FIG. 1 in which the door is aligned with the door frame forclosing the door opening. In FIG. 2 the hinge assembly appears in frontelevation with portions broken away to reveal other elements of thehinge assembly. FIG. 3 shows a major part of the hinge assembly of FIG.2 in side elevation, and FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the hinge assemblyof FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an axially sectional view of some hinge elementswith the hinge assembly angularly moved away from its rest position.

The hinge assembly 15 comprises a bracket 16 which is fastened to thedoor frame 11 by two screws 17. The

member 18 of the bracket 16 which projects into the recess 13'ha's anupright bore engaged by a stud 19 integral with a cylindrical plug 20.The plug is firmly fastened to the bracket member 18 by a nut 21 whichclamps the bracket member against the lower radial face of the plug. Theupper portion of the plug is tubular and has a radial face which extendsfrom a peak at 22 to a bottom point at 23 in two helices of oppositedirection of rotation each extending over one half of the circumferenceof the plug. If developed into a plane, the cylindrical outer .wall ofthe plug 20 would be represented by a rectangle topped by an isoscelestriangle based on one side of the rectangle.

The plug 20 axially extends into an open lower end of a tubularcylindrical housing 24 which is fastened inside the door by a frame 25with which it is integral. The frame 25 fits the contour of the doorabout the lower recess 13 and is fixedly clamped on the body of thedoor. The upper end of the housing 24 is closed by a transverse wall 26.The cylindrical wall 27 of the housing 24 is continuous except for twodiametrically opposite axially elongated slots 28.

A cam piece 29 is axially slidable in the cavity of the housing 24 andis of a diameter which is only very slightly smaller than the internaldiameter of the housing 25, and approximately equal to the diameter ofthe plug 20 so that the cam piece and the plug form movable seals in thehousing 24. A pin 30 passes diametrically through the cam piece '29.Each of its ends extends into a slot 28 and rotatably carries a smallroller 31 the diameter of which is slightly smaller than thecircumferential width of the slot 28. The resulting circumferential playof the roller 31 is too small to permit adequate pictorialrepresentation on the scale of FIG. 3, but sufficient to permit rotationof the roller when moving along one axial wall of the slot 28substantial without friction against the opposite wall. The outersurfaces of the pin 30 and of the rollers 31 are approximately flushwith the outer surface of the housing 24.

The lower portion of the cam piece 29 is tubular and its radial face hasthe same shape as the upper radial face of the plug 20 so that in therest position illustrated in FIG. 2 the lower radial face of the campiece 29 has a peak at 23 registering with the bottom point of thecorresponding plug face, and a bottom point at 22. The two helical faceportions of the cam piece 29 between the peak and the bottom point arein contact over their entire lengths with the corresponding faceportions of the plug.

The cam piece 29 is urged downward into engagement with the plug 20 byan abutting end portion of a strong helical spring 32 the other end ofwhich is supported by a pressure plate 33 backed by a control screw 34which is threadedly movable in the transverse housing wall 26. The headof the control screw 34 is located outside the housing and the tensionof the spring 32 may be adjusted by rotation of the head of the screw34.

When the door is pivoted about the longitudinal axis of the housing 24,rotation of the plug 20 in the housing forces upward displacement of thecam member 29 against the constraint of the spring 32. Depending on thedirection of angular movement from the position shown in FIG. 1, one orthe other of the two helical face portions of the cam piece 29 willrotate with the door in contact with the corresponding face portion ofthe stationary plug 14, thereby axially lifting the other face portionof the cam piece 29 out of engagement with the corresponding faceportion of the plug. The relative positions of the cammingly cooperatingfaces of the plug 20 and the cam piece 29 after the door has been swungout of its rest position are seen in FIG. 5. The bottom of the cam pieceface has been lifted in a helical path above the peak of the plug face.Even after rotation of the door through a wide angle, there is stillcontact between the two camming faces of the plug 14 and the cam piece29 over a substantial portion of their circumference.

The mounting of the hinge assembly of the invention on a door is verysimple. The bracket 16 is mounted on the door frame 11 'by the twoscrews 17. The door 10 is machined or otherwise shaped to provide thetwo re cesses 12 and 13. An axially extending cylindrical open ing of adiameter approximately equal to the external diameter of the housing 24is drilled or otherwise formed in the door body to communicate with therecess 13. The housing 24 with all the working parts of the hingeassembly is slid into the cylindrical opening until the frame 25envelops the door corner. The frame is clamped fast on the door tosecure the housing in its proper position. The door is suspended fromthe upper hinge bracket 14. With the plug 20 pushed as far into thecavity of the housing 24 as possible, the door is aligned with thebracket member 18 until the stud 19 can be dropped into the bore of thebracket member 18 whereupon assembly is completed by mounting andtightening the nut 21.

Other mounting sequences for the hinge assembly of the invention willreadily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art to suitprevailing conditions. Under all conditions the hinge assembly of theinvention is mounted easily and in precise alignment even by unskilledpersonnel. The protection of the more sensitive working parts by thehousing 24 effectively prevents any damage to the hinge elements duringinsertion in the door and during hanging of the door. An accidental blowwhich may damage the door itself will usually leave the hinge assemblyunharmed so that it may be removed from the door and used on anotherdoor.

The sealing engagement between the plug 20 and the cam member 29prevents penetration of contaminants into the cavity of the housing 24.As best seen from FIG. 2, the length of the slots 28, the axial lengthof the cam piece 29 and the position of the cam piece in the housing aresuch that no passage from the outside through the slots 28 into thecavity of the housing 24 is opened when the rollers 31 move over theentire length of the slots 28. The length of the slots is correlatedwith the axial spacing between the peak 22 and the bottom point 23 insuch a manner that the path of swinging door movement may be limited byabutment of the rollers 31 against an axial end wall of the slot 28 toprevent overtravel of the cam faces.

The weight of the door is supported to a certain extent by the upperhinge bracket 14, but a substantial portion of the door weight istransmitted to the lower hinge bracket 16 by the spring 32. The springmust be properly selected or adjusted by means of the screw 34 withregard to the door weight so that it will permit upward displacement ofthe cam piece 29 without causing the pivot at the upper bracket 14 tobind. It will be appreciated that the axial position of the plug 20 inthe housing cavity is substantially fixedly determined by the suspensionof the door from the hinge bracket 14.

It should be understood of course that the foregoing disclosure relatesto only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that it is intendedto cover all changes and modifications of the example of the inventionherein chosen for the purpose of the disclosure which do not constitutedepartures from the spirit and scope of the invention set forthin theappended claims.

What I claim and desire to be protected by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A hinge assembly comprising an elongated tubular housing having alongitudinal axis and an internal wall enclosing a substantially closedcylindrical cavity, said housing being formed with an axially elongatedrecess in said wall; a substantially cylindrical cam member axiallymovable in said cavity and having a radially extending helical cam faceabout said axis; a guide member radially projecting from said cam memberand engaging said recess for securing said cam member against rotationabout said axis; a plug member rotatable relative to said housing insaid cavity about said axis and having a radially extending helical camface about said axis matingly engageable with the cam face of said cammember;

resilient means in said cavity for permanently urging said cam memberinto axial engagement of the cam face thereof with the cam face of saidplug member; and fastening means for fixedly securing said housing andsaid plug member to a door and a door frame respectively for hingedmovement of said door about said axis relative to said frame.

2. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said plug memberduring rotation thereof sealingly engages said wall.

3. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cam memberduring axial movement thereof sealingly engages said wall.

4. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 1, further comprising meansfor securing said plug member against axial movement in said cavity.

5. A hinge assembly comprising an elongated tubular housing having acylindrical wall formed with an axially elongated slot passingtherethrough and defining a substantially closed cavity; a .cam memberaxially movable in said cavity and having a radially extending helicalcam face about said axis; a guide member radially projecting from saidcam member for engagement with said slot and axially slidable therein,said guide member and said slot constituting guide means for securingsaid cam member against rotation about said axis; a plug memberrotatable relative to said housing in said cavity about said axis andhaving a radially extending helical cam face about said axis matinglyengageable with the cam face of said .cam member; resilient means insaid cavity for permanently urging said cam member into axial engagementof the cam face thereof with the cam face of said plug member; andfastening means for fixedly securing said housing and said plug memberto a door and to a door frame respectively for hinged movement of saiddoor about said axis relative to said frame.

6. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 5, wherein the axial lengthsof said slot and of said cylindrical cam member are such that passagethrough said slot into said cavity is obstructed by said cam member inall axial positions thereof, the axial movement of said cam member beinglimited by the length of said slot.

7. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 5, the radial length of saidguide member being not greater than the radial thickness of said wall.

8. A hinge assembly comprising a housing having a continuous cylindricalwall formed with two circumferentially spaced elongated slots, saidhousing having one open axial end and a transverse wall closing theother axial end; a cam member in said housing having a radiallyextending helical cam face about the axis of said wall; two guidemembers respectively axially slidable in said slots between the axialends thereof, said guide members being fastened to said cam member forguiding axial movement of said cam member and securing the same againstrotation about said axis; a plug member rotatable relative to saidhousing and having a radially extending helical cam face about said axismatingly engageable with the cam face of said cam member in saidhousing, a portion of said plug member axially projecting from the openend of said housing; a compression spring interposed in said housingbetween said transverse wall and said cam member and permanently urgingthe same into a position of engagement of said cam faces; fasteningmeans for securing said housing to a door; and bracket means on saidprojecting portion of said plug member for securing the latter to a doorframe.

9. A hinge assembly as set forth in claim 8, including control meansmounted on said transverse wall for adjusting the effective axial lengthof said compression spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,056,171 Henry Mar. 18, 1913 2,604,653 Anderson et al July 29, 19522,968,830 Urtis Jan. 24, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 154,834 Australia Jan. 19,1954 346,131 Switzerland June 15, 1960

